Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-08-17

of slumber, he kne,o in his soul that spirit
aoas there.
"Dear," was answered, 'fy while there
is yet time. The Lord is abroad in His
majesty and might; the sea will arise and
kiss his feet, the earth will shudder in His
presence, the rocks fall down in worship
and the mountains bow in alteration. He
cometh not in peace, but in wrath. Fly
while there is yet time"
The words were meaningless to him.
He could make nothing of them: Again
he begged for an explanation. With one
hand pointing aloft to heaven, with one
pointing downward to earth, the form, the
face of Ada Lee, white as chrism, i'm
palpable as air, but certain as marble in
its development, slowly faded away. But
long after the shadow of the reality had
disappeared he could hear, growing fainter
and fainter, the terrible words:
She CoMETH NOT IN PEACE, BUT IN
WRATH !"
Dazed, awed, trembling, uncertain of
action, Rex Wilbur crept to window to
look out upon the night for some tangi-
BILE evidence OF coming disaster.
A great and fearful change had taken
place. Moon and stars were blotted out,
were hidden behind whirling masses of
inky clouds. The wind was moaning and
shivering as it came up from an ocean
lashed to foam. Waves were rushing over
waves, each one greater and more resistless
than the last. The trees were wildly toss
ing and twisting their branches. the
strongest trunks were bowed and torn.
The earth groaned as some monster in
pain, trembled and was convulsed. The
stout ships in the harbor reeled as drunk
men, stood still, then "leaped cables
length"
Yes, the Lord was abroad in the majesty
and might of His wrath, man bowed
down in abject fear, and the work Of his
hands were but as straws in whirlwind.
A moment of crushing anxiety and sus-
pense, and the cause was made plain.
From every portion of the city, with
strangled utterances from those drowning
in the inward sweeping tidal-wave, from
the huts of the negro, from the mansions
of the rich came weeping and Wailing, and
praying for succor and safety. Every
light had been extinguished. To add to
the other and complicated horrors, all
were stricken as if with blindness. The
earth was rocking as if angrily tossed
Gin the hollow of his hand )" houses were
shaken down to foundation rivers were
over-running their banks; streets were
yawning and swallowing all within their
reach plains were ridged with giant fur
rows and the mountains were scanned with
mighty scars.
The Lord was abroad in the majesty and
might of his terrible wrath, and as Rex
Wilbur sank unnerved, unnamed to the
vibrating, cracking, splintering floor, his
white and quivering lips took up the cry
of the stricken city, and he gasped:
GAN EARTHQUAKE! May Heaven have
mercy"
There flashed through his fast-numbing
brain. words until then orgotten-"When
one Of the parties in sore distress Graves
the others presence and aid" and he call
ed out as if to spirits was given mortal
hearing:
"Ada, darling, save me-"
Was it fancy, was, it reality that from
the blackness of darkness, above the COM
mingled outcry, the sobbings, walls,
groans, the crash of matter wrecked, the
rumbling thunder of the earthquake, a
voice calm, low and sweet came, saying:
Courage. Love leaves not its own to
perish, and the Lord helps those who help
themselves"
In an instant he was upon his feet, CROP
ing his way for the door for the stairs to
descend. Along the rocking, tilting, up
heaving floor he went, with walls sWaying
and ceiling falling. Thus-a stranger in
the house-he soon became lost among the
intricate passages, and, exhausted by the
battle, wounded and bleeding from un-
seen, but heavy, blows he sank hopeless
ly to the fioor-his last prayer for mercy,
his last blessing for her he loved.
An invisible force lifted him again to his
feet, an invisible hand clasped his with
firm though tender grasp. He was drawn,
guided by some supernatural power, out
from the little better than wreck of hotel,
through streets filled with flying debris,
through shrieking, raving, imploring hu'
manity, safely around yawning chasms
sucking down to death everything near
away from subterranean-born fountains
belching forth blazing gas, boiling, Kissing
water and huge stones; beyond the insa-
tiate NAV of the tidal wave; beyond rock.
| ing steeples, falling walls and the fierce
rain of brick and timber piloted through
darkness profound beyond the extreme
limits of the doomed city.
Then the guiding hand released him. a
face more than mortal fair, and shining
with more than mortal glory beamed
down upon him for an instant, warm lips
seemed to touch his own, there was the
beating of another heart within his breast
and then
The sun was shining brightly " hen he
awoke; wind, sky and water were at peace !;
flowers were sending forth their sensuous
odors, and birds singing sweetly in the
branches of the scarcely stirring trees.
The world was resting after the straining
throes of the earthquake birth resting for
another and more mighty effort.
From the shaken, wrecked, affrighted
city, shuddering with the fear of being
overtaken, all that could fled. Among
ger had shackles for him, duty no chains.
In the stiffness of his slumber upon the
hillside had been whispered in his ears the
single word "come," and nothing mortal
could have kept him from obeying the
spiritual summons. Thrice during the
Journey it was repeated-once as he start
ed, once when midway, and again, and
more forcibly and imperatively, when he
finally stepped from the cars.
It was near midnight as he turned swift
ly and alone toward the house of his be-
loved. No, not alone. BY his side was a
shadoWy form, white cloud fashioned in
the semblance of girlhood, with face di-
vinely fair, hair as spun darkness powder
ed with star dust, and eyes that shone with
dazzling, electric blaze. He could feel the
touch Of the hand, but when he would have
circled the form and drawn it to him, his
arm passed through as if it were but feecy
smoke or mist curling around the noun
tain top in the morning.
By his side the spirit form of Ada Lee
f1oated rather than walked for consider
able distance. Then it suddenly turned
aside, took another path, drifted away and
was slowly dismembered and dissolved in
air. He strained his eyes to follow, saw
the road taken led to the graveyard, and
groaned in agony of grief:
"She is dead, dead"